Center

Broadband helps connect remote areas

By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-01 09:12

GUANGZHOU: Qiu Dongping was about 50 kilometres away from his hometown yesterday, bargaining for affordable computers.

Qiu is head of a large village in the mountainous county of Dapu in the east of Guangdong Province, home to 2000 people in six villages.

"The local town government has told me that the broadband service will be available in my village by early September at the latest, so my team has decided to buy one or two reasonably priced PCs to make good use of it," he told China Daily.

"In the coming few weeks, I will learn how to use a computer and how to produce Internet adverts at an IT learning centre in my county."

He said many of the villagers have been looking forward to the broadband service as they have been made aware of its benefits by those studying or working in big cities.

"For one thing, although we live in out-of-the-way mountainous areas, we don't have to be cut-off from the Internet world," he said. "Furthermore, we will try to make good use of the Internet for the promotion of our resources including fruit, beautiful scenery, fresh air, porcelain and sweet mountain springs."

The new broadband initiative is the latest development in the province's efforts to better connect rural areas.

Last week, China Telecom's Guangdong branch signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Guangdong Provincial Information Industry Department to significantly improve telephone and broadband services in rural areas.

Under the MOU, the firm will within three years provide telephone services to each household in villages that have over 20 households, as well as broadband Internet to every large village.

The firm will spend 800 million yuan (US$100 million) this year to reach 2,000 villages, an investment that will increase each year.